Furlough song: Laugh or you’ll cry

A federal worker walks into a piano bar. He goes to order a drink, takes it over to the piano player and says: ” Do you know I’m gonna be furloughed Friday?”

The piano player says, “It doesn’t ring a bell but if you hum a few bars I may be able to pick it up.”

(Sound of laughter)

All of the above was an attempt to introduce you to a furlough ballad, written by a fed who said it is intended to cheer up his colleagues who are being forced to take unpaid vacations. He said it came to him one day as he was thinking about the work of Harry Belafonte.

Who?

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What?

Harry Belafonte. The singer?

Yes, the man who rocketed to fame and fortune with tunes like the “Banana Boat Song,” who made Day-O a national rallying cry, is still doing it for some people. This obviously includes some feds in need who, in the time of furloughs and pay freezes, continue to channel him.

In March, we heard from a government worker who anticipated being furloughed. He said they could chop his pay, but they couldn’t kill his spirit. Or words to that effect.

To get back at the politicians, rally his fellow civil servants and maybe just have a little fun, he wrote the Ballad of the Furloughed. We ran it And the rest is history.

Nothing happened. Congress and the White House didn’t make the furloughs go away, and pay continues to be frozen. But it showed a nice spirit which is something.

Now that we are hip deep in furloughs, another fed — a modern day Joan of Arc, except he’s a guy who works as a Navy civilian— has proposed let-there-be-song. Again. Same theme, different words. Why not organize a group-sing at the office. It probably won’t do anything but annoy the boss, but that in and of itself could be a small victory. Here goes:

The Furlough SongTo the tune of: “The Banana Boat Song”

Fur-lough, Fur-lo-lo-o Friday come and me don’t wanna stay home Work all day researchin’ Friday come and me don’t wanna stay home Write papers til the evenin’ come Friday come and we don’t wanna stay home

The word “tornado” comes from a blending of the Spanish words “tronado” (thunderstorm) and “tornar” (to return). Before settling on the term tornado, people used a variety of words to describe the whirling storms, including “storbillion” and (my personal favorite) “twirlblast.”

(A tip of the hat to a loyal Mike Causey reader and NUF aficionado for today’s factoid.)

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